Wednesday, November 24, 2010

and there is investment quality highwaymen art.If you can't tell the difference, call me. I can tell.

I read this TCPalm to keep up with highwaymen news, and was surprised to find this article.

Boil it down, the wealthy are investing in art and the major houses that handle the high end stuff are thriving. Eventually this will trickle down to our little market, regional Florida art, and sales will perk up. This will push prices back upward, which will wake up the sheep, and they will invest more causing more price increases. The cycle will trend upwards again.

When will that happen ? When ?

Gain some confidence, people. Buy a damn Harold Newton.You'll be glad you did. But don't just buy what I call "an autograph", a plain blah one. You gotta step up to the plate and buy a NICE one.Here's the article:

By Marilyn BauerTCPalmPosted November 18, 2010 at 12:08 p.mAs the first of the fall auctions in impressionist, contemporary and modern art commenced in New York, a group of about 20 Treasure Coast investors met at the Elliott Museum in Stuart for an educational presentation on entering what has proved to be a rapidly recovering art market.With only weeks until the start of Art Basel Miami Beach — the famed international contemporary art show — the presentation by highly credentialed art consultant E. Sarah Paul registered as perfect timing. Paul will be back in town to give advice on what's hot and what's not just a few days before Art Basel begins, as a guest of UBS Financial Services, sponsors of the art as investment presentation."It's not unlike what The Lyric Theatre does when they bring an artist to town and have them do a program in the schools," said Craig D. Price, senior vice president with UBS. "I would like to emulate that model."Price charmed the mostly female audience with his assessment on why to buy art now: "The government is pumping money into the economy in the hopes of stimulating inflation," Price said. "An asset that benefits from inflation is art, as well as gold and silver."In other words, art is a great place to park one's wealth while waiting out the recession. (emphasis is mine, don't want you to miss it)The art market has soared 39 percent in volume over last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. In addition, the New York auctions, which have not finished as of the writing of this column, are expected to sell 2,266 works equaling $1 billion.The market increase has to do with significant de-accessioning of works by important collectors and newly minted millions from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Rio, India, China) interested in buying art at the New York auctions, thus inflating prices.Paul, the 32-year-old founder of the developing website artcaste.com, is a well-educated innovator with experience in building important collections. She provided information for every level of collector, stressing research and legwork before making a purchase.UBS took Paul's show to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach with plans to continue the invitation-only lunches through April.Price is a class act dedicated to community building and enthusiastically promotes culture as a way of improving our standard of living."The idea for the luncheon was to give those who were collecting art in our community the chance to hear from an expert and to solidify a deeper connection to the arts locally," Price said.Price sees great opportunity for collectors right here at home suggesting the work of landscape painter Cristina de la Vega, who was honored by the state, as a place to start.Marilyn Bauer is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. This column reflects her views. Follow her blog at tcpalm.com/bauer.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

In my other blog today (go read it) I'm commenting on AOL's take on cutting prices in this economy and what I've been doing.

Howevah................ there's another side to our AOL "welcome to Nov 3, 2010".

AOL attracts one's attention by posting this picture of what they believe a small business owner should look like in today's day and age. Worried.

Now this is a sort of brainwashing on a subconcious level and one of the reasons I put so much blame on the media for helping to sustain this pathetic economy.

This guy pictured is every small business owner and by God, he's WORRIED.

America, you too better be worried. That's the message, no question.

I see this picture and the Travelers Insurance (the one with an umbrella) advertisment that I see on television all the time runs in my head. The one where the cute little white terrier frets about where to secure his bone for a rainy day. In the background is this great blues song that goes. "Trouble, Oh, trouble, trouble...been dogging me since the day I was born. Worry. Oh, worry, worry, worry...". You must have seen it, I've seen it about a million times. Very effective.

Got these words from an auction description and I like them so much that I'm copy/pasting them here.

About the market itself as a pleasant change from the usual re-hashed history.Well done.

Here you go, boys and girls:

They regained their place in the sun—and ardent fans are creating a perpetual demand. The paintings of the Highwaymen are now considered to be an important sector of American Art. Perhaps the art of the Highwaymen can best be de- scribed as a marriage of rich arresting color and stark simplicity of form. If the viewer lets his or her imagination soar, the effect is almost hypnotic—these scenes appear to be embedded in time. For many individuals it’s a trip down memory lane, evoking fond recollections of grow- ing up in Florida. For the neophytes, these paintings offer a look into a culture with storybook appeal. For the urbanites, the “trendy” aspect is proving irresistible, and for still others, they provide a visual foray into the lush Florida landscape. Whatever the individual fascination, the born-again popularity of the Highwaymen has collectors strongly intrigued...and vying with each other to supplement their collections.

About Me

Facebook links:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/H-Newton-and-A-Hair-Paintings/309497962412013
https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheOther24HighwaymenArtists
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-E-Backus-paintings/226383987441293
Since 1973, Bob LeBlanc has operated as a professional dealer in items of exceptional beauty and value. With the introduction of Highwaymen Art to the public by Jim Fitch in a 1995 issue of Antiques and Art Around Florida, Bob recognized a new and potentially active regional market. Since then, Bob has invested time, effort, and money to promote highwaymen art, exhibiting at antique shows statewide, and creating a web presence.
Since 1996, Bob has handled many of the most important highwaymen paintings available on the market, the H Newton pine tree on the cover of Antiques and Art Around Florida, in 1997, the H Newton river sunset on the cover of the Hambrick video documentary, and the first highwaymen painting to reach the $10,000.00 level.